By FCF Staff

Bellator has announced that Season 4 lightweight tournament winner Michael Chandler will fight the promotion’s champion Eddie Alvarez, October 15^th in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The bout will headline the Bellator 54 card. (Pictured: Alvarez punching Pat Curran)

Chandler (8-0) scored wins over Marcin Held, Lloyd Woodard and Patricky Freire to take home the tournament championship and earn a title fight with Alvarez. The decorated collegiate wrestler turned pro in 2009 and won two bouts under the Strikeforce banner before signing with Bellator.

“Eddie is obviously a world class lightweight, but in a lot of the fights I have watched, no one has really pushed the pace against him,” Chandler was quoted saying in a press release from the promotion. “I want to put him on his heels, and make him respond to what I’m doing in the cage. I’ve got a few months to prepare, and I’ll be more than ready for October 15th.”

Alvarez (22-2) is riding a seven fight win streak which includes wins over Toby Imada, Roger Huerta and Josh Neer. Most recently the Philadelphia fighter worked his way to a unanimous decision win over Pat Curran in April.

“Fighting this close to home on this big of stage is awesome,” said Alvarez. “I’ve never lost a fight in the States, and I certainly don’t plan on losing this one. I’ve never had this much time to prepare for a fight, and you’re going to see that preparation on display October 15th.”

“I watched the Lightweight Tournament very closely, and was really impressed with a lot of the competition,” Alvarez added. “Knowing that Chandler is my opponent, I’ve already gone back and started to watch film, and I’ll be ready. He brings a really good pace, and it’s going to be a great fight.”

Bellator 54 will be hosted by Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall Ballroom and will be broadcast on MTV 2.